1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to door handles, and more particularly to a light weight, reinforced adapter facilitating rotation of a door knob.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The opening of a door ordinarily requires turning of the doorknob by the twist of a hand. This task is difficult for individuals with substantially limited hand dexterity because such individuals are not capable of generating a substantial gripping force with their fingers. Without assistance, handling heavy metal handles is particularly troublesome for many elderly individuals and persons suffering from common ailments such as arthritis, and those with more serious conditions such as partial paralysis, amputations, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, quadriplegia, and other disabilities.
To address this issue, government regulations require doorknobs to be formed as a lever type, so as to facilitate door opening by a person having less manual dexterity than is required to turn a conventional round knob.
Many handle-type devices fabricated out of metal have inherent limitations. First, metals having non-corrosive quality are often expensive to buy, fabricate, and assemble. Second, if a manufacturer chooses to use inexpensive metals, such metals tend to corrode which in turn creates health concerns and requires frequent maintenance or replacement. This drawback is particularly serious in hospitals, senior citizen facilities, and other places for the elderly and infirmed where health concerns are high and the budget is often low. Third, inexpensive metals are often of a high density, which results in a heavy weight of a handle and requiring a substantial torque and other forces for their operation.
Low weight handles or adapters made of non-metallic material are also known in the art. However, such devices are not very successful because they are structural imitations of their metallic counterparts. Typical handles or adapters made from non-metallic material are often unable to withstand the required torque and other forces a door handle encounters in everyday usage.
Thus, there has been a long-felt unsolved need to provide a non-metallic adapter facilitating rotation of a door knob door handle which is relatively inexpensive because of the material utilized in the manufacturing and fabrication thereof. Furthermore, there has been a need for such adapter of non-metallic construction specifically designed to withstand the torque, bending and other forces for which these type of devices are typically exposed to in their operation, and do not corrode and or interfere with the environment of hospitals, other healthcare facilities, etc.